WTF is an "esports expert"?

Thousands of people all around the globe name themselves "esports experts". They provide a broad range of services from the general consultancy to activations. How someone could state "esports experts" when esports is a huge industry with hundreds of different qualifications?!

Think of Hollywood. There are directors, producers, editors, actors & even film critics. Each of these people is an expert in his own craft: the director is a visionary leader who knows how to build a shooting process, works with script-writers & actors, but the actor is a way narrower profession. The actor wouldn't state that he's a film expert. He could understand movie business better than retail, but that's it.

Esports is special. Industry monetization is driven from the pockets of sponsors & investors. The majority of them are still at the beginning of esports understanding. So there's a great need for someone who will explain what's esports, how to make money here & when to do an exit. Different types of people address this need:

• private esports experts
• agencies
• publishers
• esports organizations
• media
• startups & many more.

All of them act as esports experts. Literally, esports events producers, team managers, journalists, creative officers, startup owners, streaming platform owners claim that they are particular experts in esports. Not it's the narrow field of production, strategy, creativity, jersey production, but esports as a phenomenon, culture or industry.

Good & bad cop in esports

Let's check several esports scenarios & compare their consequences.

Non-endemic FMCG-sponsor meets esports organization.

Esports experts convince a brand manager to allocate budget into team sponsorship. They promise social media reach, the streaming buzz around the product & brand favourability. After 6 months brand manager got social media & Twitch numbers, but can't measure the impact of sponsorship on his brand & sales metrics. So he prefers to quit relations & allocate budget into YouTube influencers with CPV measurement that is written down in brand manager's yearly KPIs.

Non-endemic FMCG-sponsor meets media agency.

Media agency collaborates with broadcasting studio responsible for the Dota2 minor coverage. Marketing experts (from the agency) together with esports experts made a creative activation with a tangible impact on the brand metrics & willingness to recommend metrics. 100% strike with a brand manager's yearly KPIs. Now they sent a case study to the Effie festival of marketing efficiency.

What's the difference between these 2 esports scenarios?

1. Esports experts acting as the Gods of industry. They literally lost client forever, because they were thinking about profits here&now and ignore strategic investments into marketing skills, external marketing partnerships - try to sell media metrics for the sake of the media metrics (as if they were a Holy Grail of esports).
2. Marketing experts collaborate with esports experts. The campaign was executed by the different stakeholders that join forces in order to maximize the result. Of course, the broadcasting studio can't make as efficient marketing research & surveys as the media agency (it's not their core business, workforce lack these skills). They were able to facilitate good marketing understanding with the right activations by chance.

What kind of expert is ya?

Let's review several types of the most common jobs in esports. Hitmarkerjobs would come in handy:

Esports manager in esports organization:

• Work collaboratively with the VP of Finance and Operations to manage a budget, ensuring any cost savings potential.
• Manages the day to day operations aspects of multiple Esports teams.
• Attend some live events to support our teams and coaches.

VP of marketing in esports startup:

• Set current and long-term goals for the team
• Design and review the Marketing department’s budget
• Work closely with the CEO, engineering, design, and science teams to create a GTM marketing strategy

Senior development manager in a publisher

"Bring Art On time, On Quality: You know how to guide a team through continuous development. You are a master of managing many art assets in different phases all at the same time. You understand the conflict, the cost/benefit calculations, and have the experience to make solid calls, ensuring that we provide delight to our players".

These are random & actual vacancies of people who could proudly claim that they are esports experts. But... in particular niche or skill set. They don't pretend to know everything about esports & facilitate market immaturity to sell services they aren't competent at.

Ok, Google. Who's an esports consultant?

One of the most well-known consultants (and business experts) works in the biggest consultancies. One of them is Deloitte. For years they serve multi-national corporations with C-level consultant services. Let's review their "expert" vacancy & compare it with the esports experts' situation.

Senior Consultant - Core Business Operations Group (Deloitte Russia)

Role profile:

• 4-8 years of professional experience; esports expert: ok, here could be the same metrics.
• Advanced academic degree (MBA is a plus); esports expert: aha! What professional degree could be a plus in esports? MBA - for sure, strategic marketing - for sure.
• Professional experience in one of the following industries: Automotive, Energy / Oil & Gas, TMT (Telecommunications, Media & Technology), Metals & Mining, Transportation; esports expert: here industries could be the same: FMCG, automotive, telecom, insurance & many more.
• Professional experience in consulting services is a plus; esports expert: proven track record with esports expertise as an impact on clients business could be a big plus
• Proven record of participation / delivery of the projects related to one or more of the following areas: process optimization, operating model transformation, supply chain management, Industry 4.0 and digital solutions in operations; esports expert: in esports projects could be events, broadcasting, marketing activations, esports organizations & many more fields of expertise.
• Proven abilities to work effectively with people at all levels in an organization, manage small teams as well as work independently; to communicate complex ideas effectively, both verbally and in writing, in English and Russian. esports expert: the same works of exports expert - he needs to be able to execute strategy/consultancy & not only make workshops or create presentations

You could argue that the difference between Deloitte consultant & esports expert isn't so great. But the difference is in the final result: Deloitte consultant work within the broader team of experts, have already built & proven business frameworks that could (to be fair, not always should) solve the particular business need in the highly-competitive environment. On the contrast, esports expert's techniques, backgrounds, approaches, network so varies from company to company, country to country! So the final result for the client is questionable (especially, when even the biggest companies cheat with business data & statistics).

How to navigate the esports experts market?

There's no simple answer to this painful question, but here are valuable tips that will help to find the right solution to an actual problem:

1. Have a balance between visionary & niche experts. Combine different people within one working group: visionary experts could help with the helicopter view & experts in marketing, production, esports organizations could explain nuances of the activation stage & supply discussion with the practical examples.
2. Find the right expert for your problem. Event producers wouldn't be efficient to solve marketing challenges & vice versa. Specify your task & search for the right talent from creative director to media advertising manager - be careful with experts in everything related to esports (find out about their biggest strengths & weaknesses).
3. Set the right KPIs. Tell the expert how you would measure success and ask him/her to navigate you towards tangible KPIs. All esports activities should be measurable (brand metrics, sales, registrations etc). And then validate these "road to KPIs" with external esports experts (doublecheck will always highlight balanced picture).
4. Perform test&try campaigns. Start with small steps. Let esports experts prove that their vision is worth following or believing. It could be a short-term advertising campaign with customers' feedbacks (think of this as a custdev process).
5. Be ready to say No. Evolving markets are full of random people trying to make money. If they ask you about budget & not your needs - avoid these partners, if experts don't understand your business - avoid them. Remember: your business is more important then esports. This what should matter most.

Post Scriptum

Bugda is also an esports expert with a proven track record in Fortnite.

Drake is also an esports expert with a track record in esports investments.

Gabe Newell is an esports expert too. But with completely another level of its current ecosystem understanding, future of esports and state of B2B players in it.

Note: provocation has been used to expose the highly sensitive topic of the esports industry. It's crucial to be self-critic and state: no, just a few people in the world could predict how esports could look in the future. It depends on so many issues from politics to parents-kids relations and advertisers' proof-of-value within esports sponsorships. This means that Global Esports Expert is... a myth.